A review of the effects of baclofen and of THC:CBD oromucosal spray on spasticity-related walking impairment in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease with a heterogeneous and unpredictable clinical course. Mobility impairment after progressive paralyses and muscle tone spasticity is common. Areas covered: The prevalence, assessment, and pharmacological management of gait impairment and spasticity in MS and their effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are discussed.

Alemtuzumab improves quality-of-life outcomes compared with subcutaneous interferon beta-1a in patients with active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Background: Alemtuzumab was superior on clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes versus subcutaneous interferon beta-1a in phase 3 trials in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To examine quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes in the alemtuzumab phase 3 trials.

Methods: Patients who were treatment naive (Comparison of Alemtuzumab and Rebif Efficacy in Multiple Sclerosis I [CARE-MS I]) or had an inadequate response to prior therapy (CARE-MS II) received annual courses of alemtuzumab 12 mg/day at baseline (5 days) and Month 12 (3 days) or subcutaneous interferon beta-1a 44 µg three times/week.

Fingolimod Use for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis in a Clinical Practice Setting in Madrid.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and safety of fingolimod use in a Spanish clinical practice setting.

Methods: Retrospective study with multiple sclerosis patients who received at least 1 fingolimod dose between January 2004 and January 2015. Effectiveness and safety data were collected during the entire treatment of each patient.

A consensus initiative for the assessment of patients newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in Spain: the eXamina Project.

Aim: To create a national consensus checklist to assess newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients when considering treatment initiation in Spain.

Materials & Methods: The Delphi consensus method was used. A scientific committee drafted items/domains, 52 experts evaluated their inclusion in the project checklist and 47 experts assessed checklist use in clinical practice.

[Monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis].

Until the mid 1990s, with the appearance of interferon beta and glatiramer acetate, there was no treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). However, due to their moderate therapeutic potential in some patients, a broad search was continued to find new and more effective treatment strategies, largely concentrated on monoclonal antibodies (MOAB). Natalizumab, the first MOAB for the treatment of MS, was approved at the end of 2004, representing a major advance in the field of neuroimmunology.

Review of the novelties presented at the 29th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (III).

The most relevant data presented at the 29th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in October 2013 in Denmark, were summarised at the sixth edition of the Post-ECTRIMS Expert Meeting held in Madrid in October 2013, resulting in this review, which is being published in three parts. This third part of the Post-ECTRIMS review discusses the effects of immunomodulatory therapy on the natural history of multiple sclerosis, with special attention to the assessment of long-term effects and the use of historical controls as an alternative to randomised trials compared with placebo. This article contains possible future therapeutic strategies to be tested in experimental models and discusses clinical trials that are underway and future treatments.

Review of the novelties presented at the 29th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (II).

The most relevant data presented at the 29th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in October 2013 in Denmark, were summarised at the sixth edition of the Post-ECTRIMS Expert Meeting, held in Madrid in October 2013, resulting in this review, which is being published in three parts. This second part of the Post-ECTRIMS review focuses on diagnostic imaging and differential diagnosis, the clinical and paraclinical monitoring of neurodegeneration, progression and disability, and functional imaging and neural connectivity. It is clear that conventional multiple sclerosis sequences remain essential for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and disease monitoring, that new MRI techniques help to assess the neurodegenerative process, and that some of the new sequences are more specific to neuroaxonal injury.

Biomarkers in multiple sclerosis: an update for 2014.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, demyelinating and inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that mainly affects young adults. It is characterised by processes involving inflammation, demyelination and axonal destruction, and as a result the pathogenic aspects and response to treatment of the disease vary widely. It is therefore difficult to establish a prognosis for these patients or to determine the effectiveness of the different drugs that are employed.

Review of the novelties presented at the 28th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (III).

The most significant data presented at the 28th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in France in October 2012, have been summarised in the fifth edition of the Post-ECTRIMS Experts Meeting, held in Madrid in October 2012. This led to the drafting of this review, which has been published in three parts. This third part of the Post-ECTRIMS review presents the findings from the latest studies conducted with disease-modifying treatments, more specifically with glatiramer acetate, laquinimod, ponesimod, BG-12, teriflunomide, daclizumab, natalizumab and secukinumab (AIN457).

A telerehabilitation program by virtual reality-video games improves balance and postural control in multiple sclerosis patients.

Background: Balance and postural control (PC) disorders are frequent motor disorder symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective: To demonstrate the potential improvements in balance and PC among patients with MS who complete a virtual reality telerehabilitation program that represents a feasible alternative to physical therapy for situations in which conventional treatment is not available.

Methods: 50 patients was recruited.

Review of the novelties presented at the 28th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (I).

The most relevant data presented at the 28th edition of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in October 2012 in France, have been summarized in the fifth edition of the Post-ECTRIMS Expert Meeting held in Madrid in October 2012. The present review summarizes the views and results of the meeting and is being published in three parts. This first part of the Post-ECTRIMS review addresses the incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS), which has increased at the global level, largely due to the increased incidence in women because the risk of developing the disease is increased in females, with minimal concurrent effect on the progression of MS.

[Biomarkers in multiple sclerosis].

Multiple sclerosis is the most frequent disabling neurological disease in young adults. Its development includes independent processes of inflammation, demyelination, neurodegeneration, gliosis and repair, which are responsible for the heterogeneity and individual variability in the expression of the disease, its prognosis and response to treatment. As part of personalised medicine, the progress made in the search for new biomarkers has identified promising candidates that may be useful for the early diagnosis of the disease, for detecting prognostic and developmental profiles of the disease, and for monitoring the response to treatment.

Review of the novelties presented at the 27th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (II).

The new insights presented at the 5th Joint Triennial Congress of the European and Americas Committees on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS) held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 19-22 October 2011, have been summarized at the fourth edition of Post-ECTRIMS meeting held in Madrid in November 2011. Regional grey-matter atrophy is more sensitive to cognitive impairment than global grey-matter atrophy measures. In patients with clinically isolated syndrome cognitive impairment does not predict conversion to multiple sclerosis (MS) after 5-years of follow-up.

Review of the novelties presented at the 27th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (I).

The new insights presented at the 5th Joint Triennial Congress of the European and Americas Committees on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS) held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 19-22 October 2011, have been summarized at the fourth edition of Post-ECTRIMS meeting held in Madrid in November 2011. Further evidence from epidemiological studies yield a possible relationship between nutrition and alterations of the microbiota that may result in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and that may trigger the exacerbation of disease symptoms. Also show the magnitude of impact of comorbidities in multiple sclerosis course as well as the impact of early identification and management.

[Spanish multi-centre observational study of the first attacks suggestive of multiple sclerosis: the PREM cohort].

Introduction: Recent studies have shown the need to optimise the management of patients after a first attack suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS). Our aim is to determine whether the results from follow-ups in these studies are reproducible within a Spanish multi-centre context.

Patients And Methods: The PREM study (observational prospective Spanish multi-centre study at 24 months) included patients in the first three months following a first event suggestive of MS with at least two typical lesions in a magnetic resonance scan.

Clinical response to methylphenidate in a patient with self-induced photosensitive epilepsy.

The classification of epilepsy includes a group of generalized idiopathic epilepsies that are triggered by a specific mode of activation, known as reflex epilepsies. Photosensitive epilepsy is the most common type. Some patients with photosensitive epilepsy use this sensitivity to induce seizures or epileptiform discharges on the electroencephalogram.

[Review of the novelties presented at the 26th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) (I)].

The new insights presented at European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, in October 2010, have been summarized at the third edition of Post-ECTRIMS meeting held in Madrid in November 2010. The age is an important factor related to the course and prognosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). The evolution to progressive disease persists more than 50 years after diagnosis of MS and a reduction in the delay of diagnosis has been detected.

Fetal alcohol syndrome, Tourette syndrome, and hyperactivity in nine adopted children.

Much attention has been paid in recent years to the role of prenatal exposure to alcohol. Fetal alcohol syndrome is one of the most severe afflictions resulting from such exposure. The present report documents the cases of adopted children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome who developed both Tourette syndrome and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.

Schizencephaly: pre- and postnatal magnetic resonance imaging.

Schizencephaly is a rare disorder of neuronal migration that is characterized by the presence of clefts that extend from the ependymal surface of the lateral ventricles to the pial lining of the cortex. The authors present the case of a female patient with a prenatal diagnosis made by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), her clinical course, and neurorradiological evolution following birth. A 6-year-old female, with right open lip schizencephaly, was diagnosed by means of prenatal cerebral magnetic resonance at the gestational age of 25 weeks.

Active human herpesvirus 6 infection in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Context: Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) has been linked with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objectives: To determine HHV-6 viral load in patients with MS, and to analyze separately its 2 variants, HHV-6A and HHV-6B.

Patients And Methods: We analyzed 149 blood and serum samples; 103 were from patients with relapsing-remitting MS (33 during an MS relapse and 70 during remission), and 46 were from healthy blood donors.